Bio:

David was born in south Sudan, a child of the the civil war. He doesn’t remember his parents, though he was raised by ‘friends of the family’ in early childhood. Eventually even they vanished and by the age of 12 he was in a refugee camp. Eventually he was informally adopted by a woman who had lost her own children, Joy Deng. Together they emigrated to America as refugees when David was 17 (ten years ago). Not having much attachment to his old surname, David changed his last name to “Smith” upon reaching America as a way of better assimilating. (He still considers this one of his better ideas. It’s amazing how easy much easier it is for “David Smith” to get resume call-backs than for some immigrants of his acquaintance with more African-sounding names.)

Through his life, David has developed a conviction that the world hates him. Not people, people are fine. Not God, he trusts god. Specifically, the plants, animals, and things of the world. The fruits that turn rotten, the fish filled with parasites when he buys him. He has lots of bad luck with things. It’s filled him with a constant low-level anxiety and made him cautious, determined to leave nothing to chance. Measure twice, cut once. Count your tools before and after. On the positive side, as he’s matured it’s helped redirect his general sense of anger to the world instead of to other people.

David is a devout (if somewhat uneducated) Christian, though he combines this with an animistic view of the world where the Holy Spirit’s touch gives all things the breath of life. He feels a real sense of community with his church and a strong obligation to aid other members of his congregation when they need it. He has also dabbled in the occult (though he doesn’t think of it that way), experimenting with trying to bind the spirits he sees into objects and force them to bring him luck.

David has been a US citizen for about seven years. He has a technical degree in HVAC repair and is pretty handy with tools in general. He has little formal education, but he enjoys reading about history. He speaks and reads English, Arabic, and Dinka. (For some reason that impresses Americans, but it’s no big deal for someone from a multi-lingual country.)